Ayurvedic practitioner in Nevada City, CA with Michael Van Sciver

The California College of Ayurveda is pleased to introduce the Ayurvedic Health Practitioner Interns 2015. Interns have completed their academic studies and work under the supervision of experienced clinical instructors. This semester's talented group of interns comes from throughout the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.

Ayurvedic Health Practitioner (AHP) interns work on supporting patients to adopt a healthy lifestyle that is in harmony with their constitution. Patients learn about their constitution as well as the nature of any imbalances. They will also receive support to adjust their diet and lifestyle accordingly and to normalize your digestion and elimination. As part of the Ayurvedic program, an intern can include ayurvedic herbs, aromatherapy, color therapy, sound and mantra, and Ayurvedic Yoga Therapy. This is is the best of preventative health care! For those who have a specific condition and are looking for clinical management through Ayurvedic Medicine, they should consider having a consultation with an Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist intern or graduate.

Interview with Michael from California

1) What inspired you to study Ayurvedic Medicine?

I came to Ayurveda through the Garden of the Medicine Buddha, motivated by an aspiration to be a healer. From my inception I had a vibrant passion for understanding the entirety of the macro and microcosm surrounding me. My greatest joy has always been as an objective observer of ecological systems large and small. As my knowledge grew it lead to an overwhelming sense of compassion and desire to be of service in the restoration of balance to our acutely afflicted planet and its inhabitants. After over a decade of studying Buddhist/Yogic theory, Herbalism, and Western Biology/Anatomy and Physiology, I discovered this multi-millennium aged science, which synthesizes all aspects of my life-long studies into a unified field of healing and knowledge.

2) What do you think makes Ayurveda attractive to the public?

Despite its age, Ayurveda truly is a living, perpetually renewed, infinitely adaptable knowledge. It is all encompassing in its potential application, as well as all-inclusive in its admission. With such a germane and pertinent nature, it is attractive to the public at large; as, it truly applies to all scales of understanding from astrophysicists, to quantum physics and everything in between, most notably the health of an individual.

3) What do you think about the future of Ayurveda in the United States or in your country?

The United States is the ground of amalgamation between Eastern and Western culture, each deeply sophisticated and evolved. As theses two wisdom traditions have treaded in completely parallel directions, in their questioning, the value of their fusion is far larger than the sum of their parts. Thus, Ayurveda and the United States will experience much progress together, as they encourage each other to evolve in order to meet on a common ground. The crosspollination of these separately flowering systems of contrasted technological and theoretical advancement will yield a new system, able to both treat and prevent diseases of all kinds.

4) What is your favorite therapy in this traditional system of medicine from India?

It is not one therapy alone, but the empowerment Ayurveda bestows on the practitioner to tailor a unique therapy specific to an individual’s needs that I see as the science’s true grace. In Ayurvedic studies, one learns the personalized processes of pathogenesis and through this is able to trace disease to its origin and uproot disorder. Ayurveda also gives one the tools of rejuvenation and prevention, so lacking in our current allopathic medical system, which act to dispel the return of infirmity.

5) What does your path to Ayurveda look like?

I was born and raised in rural South Jersey, half way between Philadelphia and the Atlantic Ocean. As a kid I spent much time in communion with the gardens, fields, forests, ocean, and Appalachian Mountains. I was the black sheep in my family of chemists, as I was a born biologist. As soon as I was able to vocalize, I expressed a thirst for understanding animals, plants, and ecological systems, both contemporary and extinct. This love of Biology naturally transformed into the desire to be a Medical Doctor. I began my undergraduate studies at a prestigious East Coast school, determined to make a lasting, beneficial difference in the lives of future patients. After almost two years in that system, I was becoming increasingly disenchanted with the allopathic model when my path was forever changed by the realization of a glaring hypocrisy. The canisters at my school marked paper, plastic, glass and garbage were being mixed together and thrown away. I knew that the health of our environment and the health of an individual were intimately related; and so, after switching my major to Environmental Science and tirelessly lobbying the administration to adopt an actual recycling program, I left that school in search of a wisdom tradition that honored these values. I went on to continue my studies in Environmental Science, practice organic gardening, and eventually move to Oregon at age 23. There I finished programs in Permaculture and Clinical Herbalism, which brought me back to the aspiration of being a doctor, but this time through a completely holistic tradition, Ayurveda. Now in my 30th year, I am beginning my Ayurvedic Health Practitioner Internship, completely equipped with the tools for restoring health and wholeness.